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Talk:You Are Not Alone/@comment-3575890-20140603203146
But on a serious note, Arya’s hysterical laughter does not paint her as an unfeeling, death-obsessed psychopath. She’s not rejoicing over her aunt being dead. I can understand why people might perceive it that way, but it is not the case. Her laughter is hysteria-laden rife with cynicism and disillusionment. She is not happy; she is dispirited, emotionally catatonic, in shock, and well on the cusp of an enormous mental break and it’s such a disservice to her character to trivialize all of that by dismissing her hysteria as simply gleeful satisfaction derived from developing psychopathy. Has anyone ever heard of people laughing at funerals or in incredibly inappropriate situations? That is because in times of anxiety, laughter can be a subconscious mechanism to reduce stress and emotional distress. It is not unreasonable for people to burst out into guffaws of laughter under tremendous stress nor is it a voluntary reaction. Actually, there is only a fine line between uncontrolled laughing and sobbing. Physiologically they are the same, and either one is a defence mechanism the brain latches to to release the build up of pent up energy. The difference is that only the former is deemed an appropriate response to a tragic situation and the latter thought to be unsavoury despite that both are normal. Instead of judging a 13/14 year old little girl for how she reacts to yet another traumatic ordeal in her life, people should consider that her dad was murdered right in front of her, she was just outside the scene of her mother and brother’s brutal murder where immediately afterwards she witnessed her brother’s wolf’s head sewn onto her brother’s severed body, her friend was murdered in front of her, her only companion is her mortal nemesis who killed her best friend, she doesn’t know if she will ever see her other siblings again, she was left behind by her friend who had up until then been her rock lending credence to her mentality that everyone she loves leaves her, everything she’s ever known and loved has been mercilessly ripped away from her, and how that horrible combination might incite an hysteria-induced outburst out of anyone. Her aunt’s death is the cherry on top of that shit-filled cake that puts everything into perspective, of which her immediate reaction is to burst out laughing at her own misfortune. It is incredibly heart-wrenching. She laughs because she cannot fathom the outrageousness of her adverse fortune. She laughs because she has resigned herself to the belief that it’s only ever going to get worse and that it’s best to start compartmentalizing. She laughs because she doesn’t have a single tear left to cry, but if she doesn’t release that pent up energy, she will surely break. She only proceeds to laugh harder looking over at her captor when she’s hit with the realization that all the trouble he has gone through to get her home has been for naught - that he’s just completely wasted his time - so in addition to bitterly laughing at her own ordeal, she’s also getting some resentful pleasure out of his, which is hardly unjustified considering that he killed her friend, kidnapped her, and planned to use her for his personal gain (no matter that I love their twisted comradeship, I subscribe that she has every right to hate the Hound). She laughs because in that moment of complete surrender to circumstance, laughter is the only reaction that clicks in her brain at all. Arya is not a sociopath. She is an emotionally damaged little girl that carries a weight far heavier than herself on her shoulders.